


Vertigo

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: Ad Aglaophotis [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alpha Bruce Wayne, Alpha Cassandra Cain, Alpha Dick Grayson, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Dick is Being a Dick, Don't copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, F/M, Female Jason Todd, Jay is Not Having It, Omega Jason Todd, Omega Stephanie Brown, Pack Dynamics, References to Family Abandonment, Venting of Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 21:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20160043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: “Why?” Dick asked, voice low with threat as he locked eyes with hers in challenge, “Why do you smell like Deathstroke, Little Wing?”





	Vertigo

Jay cursed as she rode into the Cave. Between her dunk in the bay and the pouring rain she looked and felt like a drowned rat. She was cold, her joints were stiff, and all she wanted to do was curl up in a hot bath with her mate. Needless to say, she was not in the best of moods. 

As soon as she parked and dismounted, she rolled her hair and squeezed it out like a rag, grimacing as water poured onto the concrete floor.

“Holy shit, Jay, you’re soaked.” Tim observed as he strolled out from the shower.

“Oh, gee, I hadn’t noticed.” She drawled. 

Not rising to the bait, he asked, “What happened?”

She grunted, unzipping her black leather jacket and dropping it around a chair before grabbing a towel from the pile by the shower door. “Maroni’s men knocked me into the friggin bay.” She wiped the moisture from the jacket first. It had been Slade’s mating gift and the only visible marking he’d permitted himself on her uniform. 

It was the sturdiest, high-quality black leather with thin armor plates sewn in between layers in vulnerable areas, allowing her both movement and protection. Top of the line and only available on the black market right now. The lining was silk, the same burnt orange of his own uniform. She adored it and took better care of it than she took of herself some days.

Jacket dry, she turned the towel to her hair, gently pressing the water out. Tim asked about her helmet and she groaned, “Had to detonate. It cracked and I had to get it off while I was swimming. No way I could have recovered it.”

“Well, that’ll give Timmy a reason to foist his new experiments off on you!” A voice said brightly. Stephanie had arrived back from patrol. 

“Hey, Blondie.” Jay greeted.

“Jay.” The woman returned. “Glad to see you’re looking better!”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She did though. Six months ago, she had been a shadow of herself. Her skin was pale, the circles under her eye dark from more than just exhaustion. Her body had refused to keep on any body fat. Her hair had been limp and dull. It was obvious to any of them that cared to look that she wasn’t well; that she needed a pack. 

Now, though, after six months under the care of her mate, she was in peak condition. She was damned near _glowing_. Or, rather, she would be if she wasn’t still half drenched. But the light in her teal eyes was back and that was most important. 

She caught the eye roll Tim and Stephanie shared over her head. Whatever. They knew what she meant. She smirked as Cassandra slipped out of the shadows and wrapped her arms around her mate. Stephanie startled only slightly, having grown used to her alpha appearing out of freaking _nowhere_ ages ago.

These three. These three and maybe the pup when he wasn’t being a little jerk. (She was lying, she’d take him even when he was.) If she could have them in her pack, her life would be perfect. Fuck Bruce and Dick. These three had cared. These three had noticed and done what they could to help.

She looked up as the Batmobile drove into the cave and sighed in relief. Good, she could pass on her damned intel and go home: take that hot bath with Slade. Fuck was she glad he’d chosen a house with a large garden tub.

Nightwing, Robin and the big man himself got out of the batmobile. Damn, must have been some bust if it needed both that wore the mantle. It’d be a minute before they were ready so she continued to run her fingers through her hair, the towel now casually draped over the opposite shoulder. No sense in it tangling more until she could get her oil and a comb into it.

Cassandra came up to her side and batted her hands away, taking over. Rolling her eyes, Jay let her. Deft fingers wove her hair along her scalp, collecting all the strays, and braided it down her back before tying it at the end. Light touches trailed along her neck in sisterly affection. Jay caught a hand and squeezed, returning the feeling, before heading over by the computer to give her report: it looked like Bruce was ready for it.

She outlined all the major details of the op he had sent her on tonight and the information she had gathered in precise statements, just like she’d been trained as Robin. _ Just the facts, ma’am. _ She didn’t bother sharing her own mission reports. She only updated him on the one he assigned her. Bruce seemed a bit distracted tonight, though. Like there was something on the tip of his tongue he couldn’t place. 

_ Not my circus, not my monkeys. _ She told herself.

He waved her off when she was done, knowing she’d write a report anyway, and relieved her of duty. She tossed her towel for the dirty laundry basket, nearly hitting Dick in the face as he was coming out of the showers, and grabbed her jacket. She was home free!

She didn’t see the look that crossed Dick’s face as he stared at the towel in the basket. She didn't see when he picked it up, inhaling the scent caught in its fibers. She couldn’t miss it, however, when he darted across the cave and clasped her wrist in an iron grip, burying his nose in her neck.

“Dick, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Her voice was deceptively even for the severe invasion of space and privacy she was experiencing at the moment, though it carried an underlying tone of steel. Her back was ramrod straight and unnaturally still. A predator ready to strike.

He let out a feral growl and all eyes in the cave turned towards them. “Why?” Dick asked, voice low with threat as he locked eyes with hers in challenge, “Why do you smell like Deathstroke, Little Wing?”

Oh. All the water must have washed off her scent blockers. Either way, it really wasn’t any of his fucking business.

“That’s really none of your fucking business.” She rumbled, an answering warning in her voice. “_Let me go, Dick_.”

“Why do you smell like Deathstroke, Jay?” The hot spice of jealousy tainted his normally sweet scent of honey and autumn leaves.

She struck, sweeping his leg out from under him and twisting her wrist out of his grasp. With a hard shove of her shoulder, he was on the floor. “Don’t fucking touch me again, jackass.”

“Jay.” Batman warned, infusing alpha censure into his voice. You see, that would work if she was a member of the Wayne pack... but she wasn’t so all it did was piss her off.

“The fuck do you want?” She asked, turning her head slightly to look at him but still tracking Dick out of the corner of her eye.

The Pack head rumbled in displeasure and Jay was suddenly, instantly, _ aware_ that she was an outsider omega in another pack’s territory. A sliver of fear iced up her spine. She’d never really felt like that before. Even stray, she was hurt that they wouldn’t claim her but she wasn't in _danger _from the two alphas. Now, though… she knew they’d be annoyed that she’d mated Slade… she’d never considered that she might be labeled an outsider. Or an _enemy_. 

An enemy omega in the middle of unfriendly territory.

Cassandra was suddenly there by her side, a hand on her shoulder, and she realized she had been broadcasting her distress in her scent. Rising to his feet, Dick stared at her in horror. “Jay, no! We would never!”

She didn’t bother to point out the fact that at one point they_ had_. She’d been a little psychotic at the time and couldn’t blame them. Protecting the pups had been more important. 

Once he rose, he looked at her, visibly working to control his instincts, and asked again. “Why do you smell like Slade, Jay?"

“Would you rather I smell _stray_?” She asked, viciously, trying to change the course of the fight.

“I’d rather you smell like pack.” Dick growled possessively.

The omega laughed bitterly. “Dick, I haven’t been a part of the Wayne pack since I died. What kind of bullshit powertrip are you _ on _ right now?” 

Refusing to be moved, the alpha persevered, “Why him, Jay?”

She felt inquisitive fingers at her collar and made no move to dissuade her sister from checking her suspicions. Cass pulled back the fabric to expose the mating mark on her neck. An approving hum soothed some of her anxieties. 

“Because he’s my mate.” She stated, unnecessarily.

“Slade?” Dick demanded. “Why the fuck would you mate with Slade Wilson?!” 

“A lot of reasons.” She offered, picking up her jacket from the floor and carefully brushing it off. “At the time, though, the chief among them being that I needed a pack.”

“You’ve always been pack, Jay.” Bruce rumbled, disapprovingly. She caught the disbelieving scoffs from the peanut gallery. She couldn't believe it either. They were the ones that had done their best to keep her alive and together the last couple of years. They knew better than anyone how much she _wasn’t pack _according to Dick and Bruce’s actions.

The omega straightened, “No, I haven’t. You didn’t exactly accept me back. When was the last time you scented me?” She waited a beat, watching as the men tried to remember the occasion. “Not once have I been asked to perform pack duties. Not once since I’ve been back have I been invited into a nest or invited to rebuild the family nest. No offense to Stephanie but I should have been Pack Omega and it would have been in my rights to take over those responsibilities.” 

Stephanie nodded in agreement and interjected, “I kept waiting for Bruce to invite you home but he never did. I even pulled your blankets and soft things out of storage to air out.”

“I appreciate the thought, Blondie.” She rumbled in pleased acknowledgment. She already knew that but it was nice to hear again. 

Jay turned back to Bruce. “Obviously when I was Pit crazy and out of my mind I shouldn’t have been brought back into the pack. I couldn’t be trusted. I would _never _have forgiven you if you had put the pups at risk like that. But I’ve been better for years now.”

She paused to breathe and organize her thoughts. “I’ve been approached by everyone separately but none of them felt it was their place to scent me until you and Dick had.” She shrugged, mildly accusing, “You never did. Neither of you ever indicated that I was still a member of the pack. As the League scent wore off, nothing replaced it. I’ve spent the last two years _stray_.”

“Everyone’s noticed it.” Jay gestured to the others in the cave. They all nodded, even Damian. A packless omega was in danger. They’d all been concerned and they’d all mentioned it to Bruce and Dick. It was only her insistence on near-constant scent dampeners and only going out as the Red Hood, or in groups, that had kept her from being forcibly claimed.

“I’ve spent the last _two years_ with no pack support, locking myself away during heats and abusing suppressants to the point of toxicity. I was forced to occasionally Infringe on the members of _ your pack _ for basic physical contact needs to keep from going into shock.”

“Oh, Jay, no. You never Infringed.” Stephanie reassured her. Tim nodded and Cass pressed into her side in support. Any physical contact they'd offered had been because they wanted to, not just because she needed it. It had almost been like pulling teeth to get her to accept it at all. 

“And now, now that I’ve found a pack that wants me. Now that I have a mate that values me, protects me, and treats me like an equal... Now you want to pitch a fit and suddenly decide to _ claim _ me?” She stared at the two of them, incredulous. “I don’t fucking think so.”

“Where were you when I was trapped in my safe house without scent dampeners and couldn’t leave because I smelled so strong of stray and heat that if I left I would have been in some gangster’s harem before you could say my name?” She demanded. “Where were you when I was so touch starved I could barely move? Or when I was sick from overdosing on suppressants because I couldn’t stand the thought of another heat with no one there?” Dick looked devastated but she didn’t care. They fucking _did that to her_. Abandoned her. 

Bruce was impassive as always.

“As for the masked community,” she continued, “you could not have done more to paint a target on my back by only doing _nothing_. I can’t count the number of assholes that came after me just because I wore the bat but didn’t smell like_ Bat Pack_. Or the ones that wanted to _claim _me for revenge or a _trophy_." She spat the word. "Either way, I obviously wasn’t protected so they thought they could come after me… and they _ did_.” Tim, Stephanie, and Cass shared looks of concern. They hadn’t heard of any of this!

“Gotta tell you, B, your friend Dent has a nasty fucking imagination and mouth to go along with it.” She spat. “Crane ain’t much better.” She held his gaze, eyes haunted, "And you really don’t wanna know what the Joker had to say.” She was nauseous at the mere memory. Would she ever be free of that freak? “At least the hero side of things tends to be a little more clear on the word ‘no’... Usually.” She’d had to put a couple of them down, too.

She swallowed. “So don’t you sit there and try to tell me I was pack. Not when you abandoned me.” She stepped away from Cass and put on her jacket, flashing the orange lining.

“He’s using you.” Dick blurted out, “He’s using you to get to us."

She slid on her gloves and looked up. “You know, I asked him about that the night he came to claim me.” She zipped up her jacket, stroking the leather. “You know what his response was?” 

“What?” Bruce bit out, the first time he’s spoken since attempting to reprimand her for laying Dick out on the floor and trying to claim her as pack.

“That’s funny, you sure don’t smell like Wayne Pack.” She locked eyes with Batman, “What right do they have to you?” It was only because she was watching so closely she caught the flash of pain in his eyes. _ Good_. She thought viciously. _ Let him understand what he’s lost. _Slade had been working on building up her self worth and succeeding slowly.

“It’s been six months, Bruce.” She declared. “I’ve been mated for _six months_. And the only way you found out tonight is because I got dunked in the bay and the scent dampeners got washed off. He’s not using me against you.” 

She snagged a regular helmet from the rack and squeezed Stephanie’s shoulder as she made her way back to her bike. Normally, she would leave it here, take one of the non-descript spares home. But she had the idea that they’d need a few days apart after this little confrontation.

“He promised that he would never ask me to fight any of you. Can you say the same?” She tossed out and went to put on the helmet but was stopped by a small hand. She turned to look at Damian, mask, gloves, and cape missing. “Pup.” She greeted, swapping hands to ruffle his hair a bit.

For once he allowed it without protest. “Sister.” He darted a look at the lead alphas of the pack, still watching her. “You’ve been treated shamefully.” He said with regret.

“Not by you.” She reassures. “You’ve helped, Dami. You know that.”

He nodded his head once, jerkily. He opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment before rushing on, “You have found a strong mate. One to match you in battle. I approve… I am _ happy _ for you.” 

“Thank you, Damian.” She said softly, placing a kiss on the crown of his head. Then, his mouth quirked and he had a spark in his eye. She knew she was gonna regret everything in her life that put her there in that moment.

“When are you going to let him give you pups? The next generation of warriors needs to be born soon.” The growl from Dick was worth the wave of embarrassment. She couldn’t help the smirk that crossed her lips.

She decided to roll with it. “I don’t know. My next heat’s coming up. Maybe soon.” She smiled viciously when she heard the alpha choke on air and winked at the pup. _ Too fucking easy_. Straddling her bike, she kicked the engine alive and took one more look around the cave.

Cass had moved back over to where Tim and Steph were, arm wrapped around her mate again. They were alternatively watching her and Bruce and Dick. Those two were still standing where she had left them. Dick’s face running through a myriad of emotions like he couldn’t settle on just one. Bruce was… well, Bruce. Hopefully, he’d take some of what she’d said to heart and do better with the others. 

_She_ certainly didn’t need him anymore.

With that thought, she nodded to the three, to Damian, and drove out of the cave, her bike’s roar echoing through the space. Fuck, she deserved that bath.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Vertigo" by Marianas Trench.
> 
> Edit: You can find me on Tumblr @ https://primeemeraldheiress.tumblr.com/


End file.
